Cubs Go For Back-To-Back Wins

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CHICAGO (AP) — After nine and a half scoreless innings of baseball, the Chicago Cubs broke the drought with a walk off double by pinch hitter Tyler Colvin, and took the opening game of their series with the San Diego Padres.

Carlos Zambrano and a pair of relievers dominated San Diego (7-9) on Monday. In a feeble offensive performance, the Padres managed five hits – all singles – while striking out 13 times over 10 scoreless innings.

“The whole game you go out there and you’re kind of miserable and it’s so cold,” Geovany Soto said. “We wanted to get out of there so badly. We were like, ‘Man, all we need is one.’ But it was tough to get that one.”

It was the major league-high fourth shutout loss of the season for San Diego, which also lost 1-0 to the Cubs (8-8) in the teams’ final meeting of last season, Sept. 30 at Petco Park. The Padres have failed to score in their last 22 innings versus Cubs pitching.

San Diego’s other three shutout losses this season have all come with Moseley (0-3, 1.83 ERA) on the mound. The right-hander has been excellent in his three starts, limiting opponents to four earned runs in 19 2-3 innings, but the Padres have yet to score a single run for him. He allowed the game’s only run in 6 2-3 strong innings Thursday at Houston.

“It’s frustrating, but you go out there and do your job and you leave the rest up to the team, and hopefully guys pull through,” said Moseley, who received an average of 7.71 runs in support last season with the powerful Yankees. “Through the first three it hasn’t happened, but it’s a long year. I mean, these guys can start scoring 10 a game for me. We have a great bunch of guys and a lot of good players, and I look forward to those days when they get their swings and confidence and everything is back to where it can be and it will be.”

Moseley will be opposed by James Russell (1-1, 7.20), who makes his second spot start for the Cubs due to injuries suffered by Randy Wells and Andrew Cashner. The left-hander, who made 57 relief appearances as a rookie in 2010, didn’t make it out of the second inning in his first start. He surrendered five runs and seven hits in 1 2-3 innings of an 11-2 defeat at Houston.

Russell faced the Padres twice last August, giving up two runs, two hits and a walk over 1 1-3 innings but striking out three.

Neither club’s lineup was impressive in the cold Monday. Both the Padres’ and Cubs’ 3-through-5 hitters went 1 for 11. Another tough night for the hitters could be in store Tuesday – if the game is even played. Forecasts call for rain and high winds in Chicago, with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees.

“It’s Chicago. It’s the windy city. It’s a great place to play in the summertime,” said Padres second baseman Orlando Hudson, who went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in the series opener. “But it’s not summertime.”

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